Glasgow vs Leinster, 19:35 18th March 2016

Glasgow Warriors     vs Leinster  

The battle between the upstart champions of the unwashed and the traditional powerhouse. The industrial proletariat vs the capital bourgeoisie.  

Glasgow Warriors have lost just one of their last six first team fixtures: 10-13 away at Ulster on 12 February.

The Warriors solitary defeat at Scotstoun since September was 15-26 to Northampton in the European Champions Cup on 21 November.

Leinster have lost just once in the Guinness PRO12 since round 4: 13-23 to Newport Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade on 29 January.

The Leinstermen's only defeat to a Scottish opponent in their last five such encounters was 9-16 to Edinburgh at Meggetland in round 1 this season.

Leinster won 23-18 at the RDS Arena in round 5 and have achieved a regular season's double over the Warriors only once since season 2005/06 - in 2012/13. Leinster's only previous victory at Scotstoun was 6-0 in November 2012 (that was also the only time that the Warriors have been nilled at home).

At Scotstoun Stadium, 7.35pm. Live on Sky Sports
Referee: George Clancy (IRFU, 78th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Lloyd Linton, Mike Adamson (both SRU)
Citing Commissioner: Douglas Hunter (SRU)
TMO: Jim Yuille (SRU)

Glasgow

15 Murchie
14 Jones
13 Bennett
12 Johnson
11 Hughes
10 Clegg
9  Hart
8  Ashe
7  Favaro
6  Eddie
5  Nakarawa
4  Peterson
3  Puafisi
2  Brown
1  Reid

16 Malcolm
17 Yanny
18 Fagerson
19 Cummings
20 Holmes
21 Price
22 Grigg
23 Bryce

Leinster

15. Zane Kirchner (60)
14. Isa Nacewa (143)
13. Garry Ringrose (15)
12. Ben Te'o (32)
11. Dave Kearney (96)
10. Cathal Marsh (11)
9. Luke McGrath (42)
1. Peter Dooley (16)
2. James Tracy (15)
3. Tadhg Furlong (43)
4. Mick Kearney (3)
5. Hayden Triggs (9)
6. Dominic Ryan (100)
7. Dan Leavy (12)
8. Jordi Murphy (73)

16. Bryan Byrne (12)
17. Jeremy Loughman (2)
18. Michael Bent (62)
19. Ross Molony (16)
20. Peadar Timmins (2)
21. Isaac Boss (132)
22. Joey Carbery (0)
23. Noel Reid (56)

Nice thread Hazel. I think it will be a tight game, however I think Leinster will have the edge.

Big note. Clancy is reffing this game. Leinster are up a yellow card and 6 points already.

I think Glasgow have an advantage in the front 5. More due to locks and the hooker. The props should be relatively even.

Leinster have a pretty tidy back row that edge it for me. Only way that changes for me is if Holmes/Ashe come back from injury well and Timmins is forced on early for either Ryan or Murphy.

Grigg is a development player who was in the Wellington u20 side and plays 7s. He is listed at Weir like proportions. Should be interesting. Both teams lack an experienced bench 10 and never seen Marsh before. Leinster fans may recognise Clegg but he was announced as re-signing for us today so fly half play will be interesting. Leinster scrum halves are better so advantage to them in the half backs.

Centres are a wash. Bennett was until recently competing for a Lions spot. In form he is on the plane. Te'o is very good and should have been capped by Ireland if he stayed another season. Johnson is a young guy who has been solid. Ringrose looks good but needs to put it together consistently for me before I say he is top club player.

Back 3 advantage Leinster. Glasgow's are not bad but Leinster's have more quality.

Bench impact should hopefully be Glasgow. Both sides have numerous young players on the bench. On Glasgow's side , the front row coming on is not much of a downgrade on the starters. Cummings is a solid young lock who will be seeing a lot of gametime next season. Holmes has been injured (broken jaw I think) but is a physical 7 who can play 6. Price is an upgrade on Hart and will be a Scotland international sometime in the next couple of years if he keeps improving the way he has. Griggs I have never seen. Bryce is a solid club player. On Leinster's I know Boss is a decent scrum half who has aged more than normal this season. Still solid. Reid and Bent are names I recognise but can't remember seeing how good they are. Must be solid to have got 50+ caps for peak Leinster. Need Leinster fans to help me out a bit with some of their players.  

Overall I give Leinster a small advantage.

Getting Clegg on board is looking inspired. Without him I think Glasgow would be in trouble.

All in all it's not a bad side actually and looks nicely balanced, albeit the Leinster backline undoubtedly has more firepower and experience.

Well done Ms Sapling.

If you're going to pay attention to boring criteria like "quality" and that "experience" stuff, then you would have to fancy Leinster for the win. Reading between the lines of the pre-match interviews, Toonie seems a little perturbed by the quality of his opposition this week.

Clegg has proven himself to be a (surprisingly) capable goalkicker, however, so I am hoping that we will stay in the game for a long time. Wonder what Bennett makes of being consigned to a club match?

Thank god they are expecting Russell back for the next game against Ulster and that J Gray is only expected to be out for a fortnight. I would love to still have pectorals to be torn.

Worrying times for Mike Blair - since taking 7 weeks off to recover from a concussion he's been getting more symptoms 2 games in to his return, suffering headaches.

He's got absolutely nothing to prove as a player so I really hope he looks after himself and calls it a day if things aren't looking great.

I can see him doing that to be honest.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Worrying times for Mike Blair - since taking 7 weeks off to recover from a concussion he's been getting more symptoms 2 games in to his return, suffering headaches.

He's got absolutely nothing to prove as a player so I really hope he looks after himself and calls it a day if things aren't looking great.

I can see him doing that to be honest.

Just read that as well and completely agree. Time to listen to the body and think about the future. No need for any risks at this stage. Surely his future lies as a coach now anyway.

Agreed - Blair should look after his health. If he doesn't want to coach he can replace Andy Nicol at the Beeb immediately.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Worrying times for Mike Blair - since taking 7 weeks off to recover from a concussion he's been getting more symptoms 2 games in to his return, suffering headaches.

He's got absolutely nothing to prove as a player so I really hope he looks after himself and calls it a day if things aren't looking great.

I can see him doing that to be honest.

It would be the sensible option for him. As far as Glasgow are concerned, after this weekend we should have (fitness permitting) Pyrgos; Price; and Hart - in that order for me - plus Horne the Younger. Blair can mentor the younger two and earn his coaching stripes.

Only just seen that this is on TV. Awesome - Friday night sorted!

funnyExiledScot wrote:Only just seen that this is on TV. Awesome - Friday night sorted!

For those of us who have to choose between feeding the offspring and paying for Jerry Hall's wedding does anyone have a link for tonight?

p.s. Mrs Pip chose to keep feeding the offspring. I was over-ruled.

Yes, I was hoping for a bit of Alba action. I'd be delighted to do Rupert out of a few too

PMs sent

Gonna be a long night for Glasgow - losing bonus point about the best they can hope for but a win would be very handy

Absolute terrible choice from Leinster to go for a miss pass here. Ruined a great play from Ringrose.

Marsh looks a great wee player. Quite tight this - Favaro tackling well.

Can I get a link as well please?

Murchie off now too, Grayson Hart's on the wing.

Terrible game, but given the team Glasgow now have on the pitch they'd take any kind if win!

Jaysus, Nick Grigg just bodied that lad.

Would be incredible if Glasgow managed to somehow hold out.

Thought the Hart high tackle was harsh!

What a fantastic result. Talk about playing for the jersey.

Great win, crap game but who cares!

Talk about grinding out a win! Old Skool.

Warriors heroes - all 23 of them.

Wow. Testament to the players and the way that Townsend has them fighting. The sort of performance that we should look back on in the event that we manage to place top 4.

Very proud of that.

Wow, was out last night so missed the game and the result, just watched the game now.

What a gutsy second half performance, we were down to our absolute bare bones, but no one told the guys on the field that. Play like that and we can still make these playoffs. Anything is possible!

Just caught up with the game having been down in Exeter (lovely set up the Chiefs have). Fantastic result for Glasgow. They could not get it done near the try line but did enough. My notes:
-The injuries were ridiculous. Need to make moves to make players lighter (i.e. reduced subs, scrums turn off the clock until the ref says feed). Hughes and Murchie were having very good games.
-Griggs was hit or miss. Solid enough defensively. Could be a Lyle type player who is solid and won't let you down. Don't know where Lyle is for that matter.  
-Jones had a good game when he managed to get work. He is actually a pretty good wing and the 7's has got his work defensively up to scratch. He is showing why he managed to get capped
-Hart had a decent game.
-The difference in this game was Clegg. Marsh missed 2 key touches off penalties and cost his team massively by screwing up that overlap. Having a stable 10 made a huge difference even if Clegg backed out of contact.
-Naka had a dominant game. Only tried 2-3 offloads and made 1 silly carry. Got the balance right.
-What is the point of Triggs for Leinster? Never been convinced by him and felt Peterson dominated him
-Impressed by Leinster's disruption at the breakdown. They got 3-4 turnovers just by putting their feet in
-Ringrose is already a top club player after all. A proper 10 would have got him and Te'o more ball
-Leinster did not bring their subs on early enough. Glasgow were forced. Leinster had little impact off the bench and wonder whether Cullen trusted them at all? On a heavy pitch, it could have made the difference.